Wylie Today

From February to May 2008, Northern Michigan University students enrolled in an English Education course joined forces with sixth graders from Davis Intermediate School in Wylie, Texas in an Academic Service Learning project focused on writing.  Kim David (6^th grade Language Arts teacher for Wylie ISD) and Kia Jane Richmond, Ph.D. (Associate Professor of English at NMU and former Wylie Middle School teacher) designed this web-based, collaborative project after a similar project’s success in 2007. Richmond’s students acted as writing mentors for David’s sixth grade writing buddies via WebCT, a computer e-learning program.

Using a closed internet system provided by WebCT, sixth grade students shared their written narratives and received peer critiques, suggestions, and assessments from their mentors at NMU.  Davis IS students were charged with the assignment of writing a story from a unique perspective (i.e., telling about a soccer game from the soccer ball’s point of view) and included a problem/solution. 

One student from NMU noted that the best part of the class was being involved in the collaboration, stating, “I have never had so much fun grading and critiquing someone’s paper before. The fact that we as a class made such an impression on those 6^th graders, gives me such a great feeling.”  Other college students noted many benefits from the program: developing strategies for responding to student writing, developing a professional teaching identity, and developing empathy for young writers.

Davis IS students greatly benefited from the ongoing conferencing of their papers via WebCT – continuously revising and editing per their mentors’ advice prior to turning their papers in to Mrs. David for a final grade.  “Throughout this collaboration the students and I were equally anxious to check the website for mentors’ feedback,” said Mrs. David.  “As students could also access the website from home, those with Internet service were able to communicate more frequently with their mentors; moreover, we would receive daily updates from students who volunteered to monitor the incoming email.”  From an end-of-project survey administered to her students, such comments as “They [NMU mentors] helped us a lot, and it was fun” and “I wish it could have been longer” were provided as feedback.